The Black Toro Cantina lunch special (takeaway) in Glen Waverley

If you’re lucky enough to work close to The Black Toro in Glen Waverley – guess what you could be having for lunch? Take a look at their Cantina menu - the only problem? It’s a 1) bit cumbersome 2) needs forethought and 3) you need somewhere to eat your goodies… I’m not sure how many people have tried their Cantina menu since their launch in June last year…. I have a feeling not many given it really needs all the dots to line up before one can get takeaway lunch there.

If you ever are in the situation like me when you think of going to The Black Toro and you have time to order lunch prior to 11am, give them a go. I did and I enjoyed mine immensely. Unfortunately I don’t live/work near there at all and it’s a bit too rich for regular lunch orders but here’s to relaxing the diet on Fridays for a special treat! (in my case… Tuesday)

So as I said, their lunch takeaway menu is available online and requires an order by 11am. Then their manager sends an email to confirm time of pick up. I must admit I ordered pretty close to 11am and wanted to pick up all the items by midday when they opened so I guess I’ll overlook having to wait 10-15 minutes for it…

One thing to be wary of is it’s easy to succumb to foodie greed when ordering and knowing it’s hard to try again – I ordered $48 worth of food for two people. Yup. Two subs, a salad, a soup and both desserts.

All good meals start with soup and bread and this was no exception – roast tomato soup with a fiery kick from chipotle. Thick and chunky – yum.

The sandwiches reminded me of gourmet subs from Hero in that they were really really rich (artery clogging?). Actually that’s the only respect that they are similar at all – the flavours of Spain/Latin America versus American.

We ordered the achiote rubbed pork belly, quinoa, corn & chicharron ($12) and the shredded lamb, arbol sauce & pickled veg sandwiches ($14). The favourite was the pork belly by far. Now for those of you who are like me and have no idea what chicharron is, don’t look it up and have a surprise. It’s pork crackling. In a sandwich. I’m glad we shared this between two rather than having one flavour each. There was a lot of fat on that pork belly… Having corn in a sandwich is a fantastic idea and worked exceptionally well.

The shredded lamb seemed less fatty but was a bit dry. Perhaps if the pickled vegetables were a bit more sour or there was a bit more sauce it would have been more balanced.

Trying to be healthy, I ordered the pickled beetroot, gem lettuce, quinoa & goats cheese dressing ($7) – beetroot lovers will like this dish. Lasts well in the fridge too for the next day so I found!

Now, for two people I thought that ordering two desserts wouldn’t be too much. Right? They were $4 each – how big could they be? How wrong I was. Each came served in a medium sized ice cream tub – amazing peanut butter cheesecake dusted with what seemed like cocoa and sprinkled with shards of honeycomb and chocolate brownie. The brownie was on the sweet side but actually both desserts went well together. I’ve actually put some in the freezer for later in the week…

I’m flabbergasted that one can try part of The Black Toro’s signature dessert for merely $4 and yet their sandwiches are all about $12. Oh well – more excuse to pick up lunch from The Black Toro more often. In fact, I’m thinking it might be great idea to pick up a few tubs of peanut butter cheesecake for pot luck – a few of these would feed many! I’d just need to be around Glen Waverley at midday and remember to order before 11am…. It’s all a bit difficult isn’t it… If only they had a lunch menu!

I’m just disappointed simply because it’s unlikely I’ll be eating this again any time soon – If you have the time or work/live close – give it a go!